My testimony on GMO Bill 2491

SUBHEAD: I will not vote in the future for any Kauai Council Member that does not support Bill 2491.

By Juan Wilson on 24 June 2013 for Island Breath -
(http://islandbreath.blogspot.com/2013/06/my-testimony-on-gmo-bill-2491.html)


Image above: Trouble in the US Corn Belt. From (http://www.globalchangeblog.com/2010/09/transfer-of-transgenic-crop-toxins-to-aquatic-ecosystems-potentially-widespread-in-the-industrial-corn-belt-of-the-u-s/).

This is my testimony on Gary Hooser's GMO Bill 2491:

Aloha County Council Members;

I believe that Gary Hooser's proposed Bill 2491 for the regulation of GMO agriculture is the most important legislation that has been before the  Kauai County Council in the last decade. And I urge you to support it.

This legislation, taken together,  will impact the secretive and cavalier approach these companies have demonstrated in their operations here. They share the autocratic and economic domination over Hawaii of their forebearers - the plantation owners.

This legislation redefines our understanding of what is good for Kauai. And, if passed, this legislation will lookout for the interests of the aina and health of the people of Kauai by these big chemical corporations operations.

It will send a signal from the people at the fountainhead of this small farm smothering technology.

Why should you pass this legislation?

Here are three reasons.

1) Don't let Kauai be the petri dish for the profiteering of the biggest chemical companies in the world.
Besides the security, climate and water available on Kauai, one vital reason the GMO companies want to conduct open field genetic modification testing here is that if an experiment with genetic mutations, or applied pesticide tests, goes horribly wrong -  the damage will be confined to Kauai. That damage has no known bounds other than the isolation of our island. Thanks so much Syngenta, BASF, Dupont Pioneer, Dow Agrogenetics, Monsanto Dekalb.

2) We need to convert what were sugarcane operations on Kauai into organic, sustainable sources of food for Hawaii.
The GMO companies are chemical companies -  not food companies. Their reason to be in the GMO game is to force farmers to use their seed product exclusively (through patents) and without farmer's ability to resort to their own seeds. These chemical companies want to sell fertilizers; insecticides, herbicides. etc. These are all petroleum based products that are used by big-ag mono-crop operations that are not sustainable, will not feed the world or, for that matter, feed Kauai.

3) The health effects are either unknown or worrisome. Neither is good. We need to abandon "Soylent Yellow".
Current GMO crop procedures are destroying the topsoil of the entire Mississippi watershed "bread basket". The nitrogen runoff is destroying the life in Gulf of Mexico and the region's seafood industry. The GMO corn crops are used to produce high-fructose-corn-syrup (HFCS) that is used to sweeten everything from Coke to hotdogs.That has a major negative impact on the obesity of children and the development of diabetes. This is a pandemic problem for the keiki of Hawaii - particularly the poorest among us.  Virtually all industrial meat products (beef, pork, chicken and even fish) are produced by feeding them GMO corn. Your cats, dogs and children are now grown on GMO corn.

I will not vote in the future for any Kauai Council Member that does not support Bill 2491.

Thank you for supporting Gary Hooser's effort!


Juan Wilson - Architect
Publisher of Island Breath
Hanapepe Valley
Kauai, Hawaii

Email sent to Council Services Staff as testimony:
CouncilTestimony@kauai.gov

For non=testimony email messages to council members:
Jay Furfaro, Council Chair (JFurfaro@kauai.gov)
Nadine K. Nakamura, Council Vice Chair (nnakamura@kauai.gov)
Tim Bynum, Councilmember (tbynum@kauai.gov)
Gary L. Hooser, Councilmember (ghooser@kauai.gov)
Ross Kagawa, Councilmember (rkagawa@kauai.gov)
Mel Rapozo, Councilmember (mfrapozo@kauai.gov)
JoAnn A. Yukimura, Councilmember (jyukimura@kauai.gov)


For non-testimony email messages sent to all Council members:
Councilmembers@kauai.gov

For a PDF of Gary Hooser's proposed bill 2491 click here:
See also:
Ea O Ka Aina: Re-election contingent on GMO vote 6/24/13
Ea O Ka Aina: My Testimony on GMO Bill 2491 6/24/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Pass Pesticide Bill - Testify today! 6/23/13
Ea O Ka Aina: Hooser asks for GMO Bill support 6/23/13

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